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John Hackett
John Fitzpatrick Maximillian Hackett '''(b. 5 September 1931) is a Georgeland businessman and media mogul who founded and controls the country's sixth major free-to-air TV network, National TV. Through his parent company National Media , Hackett owns several Georgeland metropolitan and regional newspapers and six major magazines. In 2017, Hackett purchased football team Zigit FC, making him one of only three Georgelanders to own one of the major football clubs outright. With an estimated $19 billion net worth, Hackett is the second-richest person in Georgeland (ahead of shipping and property magnate Terry Baxter-Collins) as of 2019. Between 2000 and 2011 he was Georgeland's richest man. Early life Hackett was born '''John Maximiliian Fitzpatrick '''in Perth, Australia, to a Georgeland father and Irish-Australian mother on 5 September 1931. The family moved back to Georgeland in 1936, during the Great Depression when unemployment and financial hardship were high. Hackett was home-schooled by his mother until he was eleven, when he began attending boarding school in Zigit. Hackett was not a particularly gifted student, but he excelled at sport, especially cricket, rugby and badminton. During World War II, Hackett's father served in the Air Force, and was shot down and killed in the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. His mother remarried to Peter Hackett in 1947; later, the younger Hackett adopted his birth surname as a middle name in honour of his father. Hackett originally planned to be a professional cricketer after representing his school, and was selected at the age of 17 to play in the national side in 1949. However, due to an injury to his leg he was removed from the team, and was unable to play. He has remained a keen fan of the sport ever since and has sponsored major cricket events. Hackett's injury did not preclude him from national service, and he was conscripted into the Georgeland Army in 1950. From late 1950 to mid-1952, Hackett served as a clerk and batman in Korea. During Operation Killer, Hackett's unit was bombed by the North Korean air force. Hackett saved the life of two senior officers by diving on top of them, taking shrapnel wounds to his back and neck, which caused him to be paralysed. He eventually relearned to walk after months of physical therapy, but for the rest of his life required a cane or frame to walk. He was honourably discharged in May 1953, and returned to Georgeland where he used his military assistance payment to establish an electrical goods store in Zigit with his stepfather. Business career Hackett Electrical, the store Hackett ran with his adopted father, lasted until 1959 when the elder Hackett died. The younger Hackett sold the store, and used the money to invest in the burgeoning Zigit property market. An early adopter of technology, Hackett purchased a local radio station in 1962, K3B Zigit, and began playing music to appeal to a youth market, such as the Beatles, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. At the time, the cultural environment in Georgeland was quite conservative and "counterculture" was not banned per se, but discouraged by authorities. K3B was the only station in the region that would play rock and roll, which brought significant listening figures and advertising revenue. Hackett purchased other stations across Mainland throughout the 1960s, and in 1969 established Hackett Media, an umbrella company consisting of all his radio assets. By 1974 this had grown to include several regional newspapers as well. In 1980, Hackett Media merged with Consolidated Press to form United Media Holdings with Hackett as President and CEO, and Leo Berry as Chairman. The new company diverged itself of Consolidated's print assets throughout the 1980s, while acquiring interest in TV broadcasting, media production companies, and publishers. In 1985, Hackett bought 25% of Five UIG from Colin Arkwright. He sold most of his UMH shares; the primary buyer was Hank Davis, who had been a rival in the publishing and TV market since the late 1970s. Hackett expected UMH to collapse, which it did in 1992. Hackett sold his Five stake in 1990, having turned the company around in partnership with Graeme Powers, a business associate of Hackett's who became Managing Director of the TV company. The ratings and revenue of the company having increased dramatically, when Hackett sold his shares they were worth half a billion dollars, five times the price he had paid for them five years before. National Media Hackett used the bulk of his buyout to fund National TV, the country's sixth commercial network. He set up a new company, '''National Media, with himself as Chairman, President and CEO. Initially the 100% owner, Hackett gradually sold some of his shares and gave some to his children. National TV Hackett's primary challenge was securing federal government permission and licensing, as telecommunications was strictly regulated. It took Hackett several years to secure licensing agreements; meanwhile, he had been negotiating with foreign networks for licensing contracts for premier programming. With the clearance of Communications Minister David Spratt secured in May 1992, Hackett announced the new network would begin transmissions the next year. The move was immediately challenged in court by the existing five commercial networks, who claimed the Broadcasting and Licensing Act 1984 had been incorrectly amended, and that the new network represented an abuse of the government's regulatory power. The suit reached the Supreme Court on 17 December 1992. The Court ruled, by a 5-2 margin, that the Act had been applied properly and the new network could proceed. Controversy continued however, with reports in January and February that Spratt, as minister, had been improperly infuenced by Hackett and Hackett's son Peter. A report in the'' Doubledance Times revealed the Hacketts had met with Spratt sixteen times over a five-week period. While there was no implication of criminality, Spratt's reputation was tainted, and in a reshuffle later in 1993 he was moved to the less-sensitive Education portfolio. The new network began transmission on 17 June 1993. Due to Hackett's licensing arrangements with foreign networks, it was able to secure some of the most popular programming of the 1990s, including ''Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Beverly Hills 90210 ''and Law and Order. ''An innovation of National TV, at Hackett's instigation, was a significant drop in waiting times for Georgelanders to see new TV programs. Prior to the launch of National, the average time between a show's US or UK airdate and airdate in Georgeland had been seventeen months. Hackett's licensing arrangements cut this time in half, and was credited with a trend towards more synchronised content. The network's early success was promising, and continued after National secured the rights to B''uffy the Vampire Slayer ''in 1998. However, the network ran afoul of Georgeland's local content laws, which required 50% of all aired programming to be locally produced. It became increasingly difficult to reach this quota while more established networks compensated for National's licensing of international content with high-quality, expensively-produced local content of their own. While ratings remained high for international flagship programs, the network's advertising and sales revenue trended downwards throughout the mid-1990s. To keep the network afloat and isolate himself from financial losses, Hackett sold 40% of his stake in National over the 1995-1999 period. The primary buyer was Hank Davis, whose losses in 1992 had been a sore point between the two men. However, in purchasing the shares, Davis and Hackett declared their feud over and since that point have remained close friends and associates. National Media expanded to beyond the TV sector throughout the 2000s, with the purchase of regional and metropolitan newspapers and magazine. It acquired the Zigit Chronicle in 2001, the Dannyburg Advertiser in 2003, and both the Doubledance Star and the Daily Fortune in 2005. In 2007, Hackett bought the Daily Mirror's Georgeland assets and, under the direction of his son Peter, turned the paper into a web-only publication. Semi-retirement and health issues In 2010, Hackett appointed Peter as President and CEO of National TV, while also allocating Peter 40% of his National Media shares (although he remains the legal owner). This effectively positioned Peter Hackett as his father's designated successor. On Hackett's 85th birthday in 2016, he declared his "semi-retirement" from his business interests, with Peter to hold operational control of most of National Media. In April 2019, the Globe and Standard reported Hackett had suffered a severe stroke which had badly affected his movement and speech. He was healthy enough, however, to attend a National Media board meeting in August. He made a rare media appearance at the premiere of the film Ladder to God, which National Media had financed, in October 2019. That same month, it was reported that the 88-year-old Hackett attended his office two days a week, but was spending the majority of time in his home under care. Personal life and family Hackett has been married four times, and has three children from two of those marriages. Hackett met his first wife, nurse Patricia Gould, in Japan in 1952 while recovering from his war injury. They were married in 1955. The couple had one child, Peter (b. 17 Oct 1956). They were divorced in 1969. Hackett's second marriage was to model and actress Helen Cunliffe, whom he met at a soiree in 1973. They married in 1975 and divorced in 1992 after Hackett admitted to multiple extra-marital affairs, including with his personal assistant, Judy Richards. In 1994 Hackett married Richards; they divorced in 2011. They have two children - son Joseph (Joey, b. 23 May 1995) and daughter Melissa (b. 8 February 1998). In January 2019, aged 87, Hackett married model Rachael Bell, 53 years his junior. The marriage was reported to have caused a significant schism between Hackett's children; Peter and Joseph were not invited to the wedding, evidently at Bell's request. Philanthropy and causes Category:Georgeland